I am covering trend, food and fashion. Previously, I covered diplomacy, city, environment and unification.
REPORTERSNOTEBOOK Lights, but no clarity: Inside Korea’s puzzling pavilion at Osaka Expo
Facade of the Korean Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai / Courtesy of Korean Pavilion
By Kim Se-jeong
Visitors watch a light show in the Korea Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai, May 13. Korea Times photo by Kim Se-jeong
OSAKA, Japan — When it began in 1851, the World Expo served as a showcase for industrial innovation, technological advancements and cultural achievements from around the globe. Today, it has evolved into a venue where countries promote their identity, values and innovation.
Visiting the Expo’s 36th edition in Osaka, Japan — which opened on April 13 and runs through Oct. 13 — this reporter found that the Korea Pavilion left many, especially Korean visitors, underwhelmed. Its abstract representation of Korea and overall dim atmosphere failed to resonate.
The pavilion features a rectangular digital media facade that displays Korea’s four seasons, iconic landmarks and K-pop dances. Inside, the exhibition is divided into three halls. The first, which this reporter found the least successful, offers a light show where visitors record their voices before entering. Inside, they hear their voices layered with artificial intelligence-generated orchestral music, accompanied by synchronized light beams.
Although exhibition director Koh Joo-won explained that the underlying message was “unity,” the experience left this reporter puzzled as to what the show aimed to communicate.
The second hall focuses on Korea’s sustainable energy future. Visitors are invited to blow into pipes connected to hydrogen vehicle engines hung on the ceiling. This triggers falling water bubbles — a metaphor for clean energy.
While the message was sound, the gloomy atmosphere of the hall undermined its purpose. So dystopian was the room that it felt like a scene from the 2023 film "Concrete Utopia," in which apartment residents fight to survive after a devastating earthquake destroys Seoul.
The third hall features a video installation that imagines a Korean family’s life in 2040, blending themes of K-pop, technological innovation and social values. Of the three exhibits, this one was the most coherent and engaging.
Visitors look around the Korea Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai, May 14. Korea Times photo by Kim Se-jeong
Disappointment grew stronger when visitors compared Korea’s pavilion with others.
The Chinese Pavilion impressed visitors with its bamboo-inspired facade and exhibitions that connected ancient scripts with modern robotics, symbolizing a bridge between the past and the future. It even featured lunar samples from a recent space mission.
The host nation, Japan, captivated visitors with its sustainability-themed pavilion, which included a biogas system that turns waste into energy. The Canada Pavilion drew attention with its glacier-inspired facade symbolizing ice breakup. Inside, augmented reality installations explored Canada’s natural beauty and lifestyle.
Visitors watch a video installation at the Korea Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai, May 14. Korea Times photo by Kim Se-jeong
Koh, speaking proudly, explained the Korea Pavilion as the product of his team’s exhaustive efforts to find elements beyond traditional heritage that represent Korea in 2025. Yet, under pressure from Korean journalists disappointed with the pavilion, Koh eventually said that the team lacked sufficient funding to fully realize their vision.
Once a marketplace for goods, the Expo is now a marketplace for identity. In Osaka, Korea showed up — but left many wondering what it came to sell.